The AL East Moves West

It's not directly about the Orioles, but Rob Neyer, via ShysterBall, has an interesting post about the Red Sox setting up a west coast office and what that means to the future revenues of the big market and small market teams. The NFL had just this issue play out during its most recent labor negotiations, with those teams that have truly national brands lining up against the local and regional organizations. I don't mind that teams like the Yankees and Red Sox have more money to spend; victory against them is much sweeter than a win over the Blue Jays, and those teams winning does help the Orioles in the long-run since it makes baseball more attractive to the casual fan. However, as we saw with the Johan Santana situation last winter and are likely to see with the CC Sabathia negotiations this offseason, it does not benefit baseball if only a handful of teams can afford the very best players.